In the Archives: Agnes Repplier, “Wit and Humor” (1893)

Last time I posted “In the Archives,” I posted William Hazlitt’s “On Wit and Humour” (1818). In her 1893 book, Essays in Idlesness, the critic Agnes Repplier takes up many of the threads of Hazlitt’s easy in her own essay entitled, “Wit and Humor.” Repplier was a prominent essayist who published many books over almost 50 years, often writing on the subject of humor (a primer on Repplier’s works). Repplier is better known in humor studies for her essay, “A Plea for Humor,” (1891) which will undoubtedly show up here in a future post.

Repplier at Mark Twain’s 70th Birthday Party

Published in the same year as James Russell Lowell’s “Humor, Wit, Fun, and Satire,” Repplier’s essay shows less of Lowell’s didactic style and classical leanings, offering a much more direct discussion of humor and one that reflects her concerns with the place of humor in her society.

In this essay, reprinted in full below, Repplier takes up Hazlitt’s subject, examining it from new perspectives and extending or revising some of his main points. She starts with this point:

while he gathers and analyzes every species of wit andhumor, it plainly does not occur to him for amoment that either calls for any protection athis hands. Hazlitt is so sure that laughter isour inalienable right, that he takes no painsto soften its cadences or to justify its mirth.

In the age of George Vasey and his philosophy that viewed humor as dangerous, Repplier found it necessary to defend humor. The bulk of the essay, in fact, seeks to redeem the rougher edges of humor in favor of an essence of “geniality” as the keynote of humor.

for sympathy is the legitimate attribute ofhumor, and even where the humorist seemsmost pitiless, and even brutal, in his apprehen-sion of the absurd, he has a living tendernessfor our poor humanity which is so rich in itsabsurdities.

After discussing Hazlitt’s definition of humor, Repplier then discusses the difference between wit and humor (see pages 169-170 below). As is common in the nineteenth century, Repplier discusses the national characteristics of humor:

Nevertheless, an understanding of the differ-ences in nations and in epochs helps us to theenjoyment of many humorous situations.

But:

It is in its simplest forms, however, thathumor enjoys a world-wide actuality, and isthe connecting link of all times and places andpeople.

And though some humor may be cruel–witness the scene of the wealthy man falling on his backside while a chimney sweep laughs uproariously–the humorist’s view of life is, she argues, at heart “genial.” True, many of the great English humorist (even Dickens) were often cruel, but humor had changed:

But we have now reached thatpoint of humane seriousness when even puppet-shows cannot escape their educational respon-sibilities, and when Punch and Judy aregravely censured for teaching a lesson in bru-tality. (175)

Indeed, much of the essay seems to be a defense of a genial humor in the face of other not-so-kind variations, such as “hoaxing, quizzing, ” selling,” and other variations of the game” (177). With reference to great humorists of the past, Repplier smoothes the rough edges of the less kind uses of humor.

It is in her discussion of satire where Repplier shines:

A keen sense of the absurd is so little rel-ished by those who have it not that it is toooften considered solely as a weapon of offense,and not as a shield against the countless illsthat come to man through lack of sanity andjudgment. There is a well-defined impressionin the world that the satirist, like the devil,roams abroad, seeking whom he may devour,and generally devouring the best ; whereas hisposition is often that of the besieged, whodefends himself with the sharpest weapons athis command against a host of invading evils.There are many things in life so radically un-wholesome that it is not safe to approach themsave with laughter as a disinfectant ; and whenpeople cannot laugh, the moral atmospheregrows stagnant, and nothing is too morbid, toopreposterous, or too mischievous to meet withsympathy and solemn assurances of good will. (179)

And:

The best use we can make of humor is, not todivert ourselves with, but to defend ourselvesagainst, the folly of fools ; for much of the world’smisery is entailed upon her by her eminentlywell-meaning and foolish children. (180-181)

Her goal of defending humor thus shifts subtly from a keynote of “geniality” to one of complexity in the role humor plays in helping people adjust to the ills of modern society:

Humor has been somewhat daringly defined as” a sympathy for the seamy side of things.”It does not hover on the borders of the lightand trifling ; it does not linger in that keenand courtly atmosphere which is the chosenplayground of wit ; but diffusing itself subtlythroughout all nature, reveals to us life, — lifewhich we love to consider and to judge fromsome pet standpoint of our own, but which is sobig and wonderful, and good and bad, and fineand terrible, that our little peaks of observa-tion command only a glimpse of the mysterieswe are so ready and willing to solve. (185)

The following section is well worth reading in its entirety to trace her argument that the humorous view of life is the healthiest and that , in fact, “we are too impatient to understand that they represent an attitude, and a very healthy attitude, towards life.” (188) Enjoy.

“Humor in America” (HA!) is a blog dedicated to the discussion of humor and humor studies in America. Authors retain copyright to their work as posted.
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"The great virtue of humor is that it is philosophizing in action, a bright silver thread in the great duvet of existence. And one can easily engage in it for an hour or two every day."
--Simon Critchley,

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